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University to star in TV pilot airing on ABC in September
BY BARBARA FITZGERALD
Freelance Writer
The University is not just another pretty campus in a TV pilot filmed here last spring; the school actually has a role in the show as well. It's playing itself.
Commander in Chief, debuting on ABC Sept. 27, will star Geena Davis as MacKenzie Allen, the fictitious University of Richmond chancellor destined to become president of the United States. The University is mentioned by name in the script, and many interior scenes were shot at Jepson Alumni Center. Other campus sites featured are North Court archway, Perkinson Recital Hall and the President's Dining Room in Tyler Haynes Commons.
The University's china and crystal (and the distinctive yellow wallpaper in the Alumni Center's dining room) are evident in one flashback scene, and several of the bedrooms serve the imaginary president's family.
The University will host a debut party with a giant television screen on Westhampton Green Sept. 27. Faculty, staff and students are invited to the 9-10 p.m. event. There will be free popcorn and sodas and a raffle with prizes. In case of rain, the event will be held in the Robins Center.
And, on the big screen.
Around the time Commander in Chief debuts, Universal Pictures will release a new theatrical movie, Cry Wolf, filmed on campus in 2003 and 2004. The film's writer-director, Jeff Wadlow (son of the late state senator Emily Couric and nephew of the Today show's Katie Couric), had attended a Governor's School session on campus as a high school student and, he says, "never forgot how beautiful the school was."
When Wadlow, a Dartmouth graduate, won a million-dollar award from the Chrysler Film Festival to produce his film, it came to him that the University would be the perfect setting. He will visit campus Sept. 18 to preview the film.
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